Fletcher rejects extra Ashes Test

Tasmania Cricket Association chief executive David Johnston is pushing for Bellerive Oval to be part of any re-think should the two countries' boards agree to cash in on the huge appeal of the two most recent Ashes series.

But Fletcher is concerned about player burn-out if the series is extended, saying: "We have been going non-stop since February 4 right through now until the end of the World Cup. That is 14 months of non-stop cricket and somewhere along the line the side have got to have a break."

He added: "To introduce more cricket is just going to complicate the issue as far as England are concerned because we play these long Test series - five against the Aussies, four against West Indies, four or five against South Africa - when most sides are playing against each other for three Tests.

"They can have those breaks while we struggle to get them."

Not since 1978-79 has an England tour of Australia held six Ashes contests while the tradition of six-match series between cricket's fiercest rivals on English soil ceased after the 1997 campaign.

The chance of change to the Ashes format does not appear viable in the short term, however, as the 2009 itinerary was announced last summer - Cardiff's Sophia Gardens, the Brit Oval, Edgbaston, Headingley and Lord's are the five venues.

Johnston, speaking after the first of two one-day internationals at Bellerive this week, said: "I know that England has got some feeling they would like to play six Tests in England and if that is the case we would like to have six Tests in Australia as a reciprocal right, and that would then mean Hobart would have a Test.

"That is something we have been working on for a few years now and it is starting to get some legs.

"If England decide they are happy to go to six Tests because of the crowds and the revenue raised, then Australia has far greater bargaining power.

"If they go to six then we have got a very good chance of getting six and Hobart has a very good chance of getting an Ashes Test."